Robert Bernard Alter: A force in Bible Translation to be reckoned with

Faith & Science Conversation
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  • Wikipedia gives a summary introduction to Robert Alter:
    • Robert Bernard Alter (born 1935) is an American professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967.
    • He has authored the following books:
    1. Amos Oz: Writer, Activist, Icon
    2. The Art of Bible Translation
    3. The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary
    4. Strong As Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel, A Translation with Commentary
    5. Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary
    6. Canon and Creativity: Modern Writing and the Authority of Scripture (The Franz Rosenzweig Lecture Series)
    7. The Wisdom Books: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes: A Translation with Commentary
    8. The Art of Biblical Poetry
    9. The Art of Biblical Narrative
    10. Imagined Cities: Urban Experience and the Language of the Novel
    11. Pen of Iron: American Prose and the King James Bible
    12. The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel
    13. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary
    14. Robert Alter in Conversation with Jonathan Kirsch (2009): Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
    15. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary
    16. Genesis: Translation and Commentary
    17. The Pleasures of Reading in an Ideological Age
    18. Robert Alter / Genesis Translation and Commentary 1996
    19. Genesis (First Edition)
    20. Hebrew and Modernity
    21. The World Of Biblical Literature
    22. Necessary Angels: Tradition and Modernity in Kafka, Benjamin, and Scholem
    23. The Invention of Hebrew Prose: Modern Fiction and the Language of Realism (Samuel and Athea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies)
    24. A Lion For Love
    25. Motives for Fiction
    26. The Art of Biblical Narrative
    27. Partial Magic: The Novel as Self-Conscious Genre
    28. Defenses of the Imagination: Jewish Writers and Modern Historical Crisis
    29. Fielding and the Nature of the Novel
    30. Stendhal: Eine kritische Biographie
    31. Ancient Israel: The Former Prophets: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings: A Translation with Commentary by Robert Alter
    32. On Biblical Narrative (Kritikos Professorship in the Humanities, 1999)
    33. Robert Alter profile image
  • IMO, of the greatest and most recent relevance is #4, The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary. About the book
    • " A landmark event: the complete Hebrew Bible in the award-winning translation that delivers the stunning literary power of the original.

A masterpiece of deep learning and fine sensibility, Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible, now complete, reanimates one of the formative works of our culture. Capturing its brilliantly compact poetry and finely wrought, purposeful prose, Alter renews the Old Testament as a source of literary power and spiritual inspiration. From the family frictions of Genesis and King David’s flawed humanity to the serene wisdom of Psalms and Job’s incendiary questioning of God’s ways, these magnificent works of world literature resonate with a startling immediacy. Featuring Alter’s generous commentary, which quietly alerts readers to the literary and historical dimensions of the text, this is the definitive edition of the Hebrew Bible.".

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Have you read any of his work? What do you think?

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The only work by Alter I’ve read was his translation of the Hebrew Bible. I read his entire translation last year. The one I found had the commentary at the end of the books instead of on each page. I did not read the commentary. Just the translation. I have not read any of his other work though. Want to, just have not been able to you yet.

I really enjoyed it and I did notice some differences like the one in genesis opening up. I preferred his rendering of it with the breath instead of the spirit and then when looking up that came across Tim Mackie’s work on ruach and the whole discussion over its meaning of breath, wind and spirit. That lead me to reading a book or two by Jack Levison and listening to interview with him with Pete Enns.

I was also aware of the “ands” as part of its poetic cadence because Tim Mackie and Jared Byass both mentioned it while talking about Alter’s translation.

But things like what the blog mentioned over Isaiah 6 would not have stood out to me. I don’t know the Bible enough to pick up on things like that.

I then listened to his translation earlier this year as an audiobook. Or rather I started it last year. Then went away from it for a few months and picked it back up around Samuel and completed it. I thought it was really nicely read by Ballerini.

I want to read his other books and I think I’ll learn far more from his books on the Bible than his biblical translation.

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  • No, but …
    • There’s something suspicious, IMO, about several things.
      • Alter is without a doubt erudite, … a wordsmith. But, as Hillel Halkin noted in his essay: “A leading advocate of the view, rarely voiced before the mid-20th century, that the Bible needs to be read as great literature and not just for its religious or historical content, he has sought to bring this perspective to bear on its translation.”
      • “Perhaps the only explanation of such decisions is what might be called translator’s ennui—the feeling that, faced with a precedent so universally accepted that it is boring to adopt it as everyone else has done, one must do something new or different. There is no need to be a partisan of committees to observe that, had Alter been on one, a fellow member would have raised a red flag at this point and carried the day for boredom.”
    • Or, as the Orthodox Rabbi, Soloveichick, wrote: “Alter is himself a reputed Jewish academic, has previously served for thirteen years as contributing editor to Commentary, and has devoted his distinguished career to biblical exegesis and translation. And yet, from the perspective of the People of the Book, the King James translation of the Hebrew Bible remains Jewish in ways that Alter’s translation will never be.”
    • Then there’s James Bruce’s article which I’ve cited elsewhere, “The Godless Bible”, a Christian’s book review: “Bereft of the one God of the Hebrew Bible, Alter seems to settle for the God of Baruch Spinoza. On Qohelet 2:26, Alter comments, “In this transient life, he who pleases God may enjoy the worldly goods passed on to him from the unlucky man who offends God, but under the aspect of eternity, even that difference amounts to little, for in the end death serves as the great equalizer.” Here Alter explicitly evokes Spinoza’s phrase “under the aspect of eternity” (sub specie aeternitatis).”
    • The words “Alter is himself a reputed Jewish academic…” caught my genealogist eye: “reputed”? So, using my genealogical resources, I searched for his historical records and confirmed that he was born a genealogical Jew, but his three marriages suggest to me that, being a faithful Jew was not his problem.
  • I’ve taken an interest in Alter’s approach to Hebrew Bible translation–I should point out–because Jacob L. Wright, author of “Why The Bible Began” praised it as “the best translation” that he had read. Wright’s praise for “a Godless Bible” now makes sense to me. Jacob Wright, IMO, seems to be very much a " godless Jew". Wright, unlike Alter, is not a Jew genealogically; he’s the son of Christian parents and his biological father was, if not still, a preacher; Baptist, I think.Go figure!
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He is indeed widely respected in Bible translation circles as a Hebrew scholar. He has a specific translation philosophy that he masterfully executes. It’s not the only translation phiolosophy out there, nor will his translation best serve every audience that wants to read the Bible. I think that is the important thing to keep in mind when evaluating any translation. There are many ways to get a translation wrong, but there is no single way to get it right.

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That’s a brilliant expression of this aspect of translation! Thank you.

Do you have it written down in a citable source somewhere, please? It so closely aligns with why I’ve done my version of Lamentations and I’d like to include it and cite it. (And you may spot that this version of Lamentations is influenced by Alter.)

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  • Robert Alter, “The Challenges of Translating the Bible,” October 8, 2015
  • [23:41] “Then there is the matter of rhythm. Now I think all good literary prose is rhythmic. It’s really the beating heart of the prose and like a human heart, but when it goes into arrhythmia a life is threatened ,so I know good, since I’ve been reading the Bible in Hebrew since adolescence, I hear these rhythms all the time and it deeply disturbs me to read an English a rhythmic rendering of those wonderful sentences.”
  • Of course, auditory rhthmic prose is lost among the Deaf.
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LOL, sorry I just made it up. But I think it’s common knowledge, you could say it without citing anyone. It just gets at the idea that speakers have an intended meaning, and there are many many ways to communicate that intended meaning in a target language depending on your priorities. All translation involves choices and all choices require sacrificing some of the many facets of language and meaning that are in tension. Often we end up focusing on avoiding miscommunication (getting the translation wrong) when we are deciding what to sacrifice.

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  • Robert Alter, “The Challenges of Translating the Bible,” October 8, 2015
  • [1:00:39] “I’m aware of the fact that there are plenty of imperfections in my translation, places where I just couldn’t find the solution to what I saw in Hebrew, and other places in which I thought I was finding a solution. But I was probably exercising bad judgment. You don’t always catch yourself, so no translation is a perfect thing, and if any translator thought that his or her translation was, that person would be laboring under delusions of grandeur.”
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I am critical of calling this a translation…because one man uses his own ideas in order to reword the ancient autographs, i see it as a paraphrase. That doesnt mean i wouldn’t read it, however, i do not take my theology from modern works of a single man such as this. I am not a KJV only proponent, however, i do tend to place more faith in the KJV translations accuracy mainly because its heritage is quite unique and withstood considerable opportunity for corruption compared with other versions we have.

James Bruce professor of philosophy at John Brown University has some damning statements to make about Alter here…

Alter forthrightly divulges his divergences from the Hebrew text, but he should let the text speak for itself, as he promised to do.

Having made the decision to use LORD for the Tetragrammaton, Alter should have recognized that if readers are not habituated to Yahweh, they won’t know what to do with Yah. If I hear someone say, “For hand upon Yah’s throne” (Exodus 17:16), I will assume the speaker is intoxicated.

The reader should keep in mind that, for Alter, the Hebrew Bible is not one seamless book but a haphazard collection of texts. Biblical authors do not offer the same view of the one true God but different—indeed, rival—versions of God. Alter writes dismissively of “the so-called biblical worldview, which is really a construct of later interpreters,”
The Godless Bible – James Bruce.

As i said, I would obviously be happy to consult this bible, however, as i do with all of my scriptural readings, i always use multiple versions of the autograph before deciding on my theology and doctrines. It would be foolish to just use this one and anyone who does that is treading on unstable ground.

the question is, whether or not i am willing to pay $190 AUD for the kindle version of it? Im wanting to buy it…just not sure yet. I would appreciate some influence on these forums in my decision making here.

Whats the consensus (genuine pros/cons please from those who studied into it more than i have)?

Where is St Roymonds position on this topic…this is right up his alley! ■■■■ it man, i need your thoughts!

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thanks for those links Terry…I’m reading them with interest. Much appreciated.

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Dr. Justin A. Jackson uses Alter’s translation in his courses on books of the Bible.

Hillsdale College Online Courses (Genesis)

Hillsdale College Online Courses (Exodus)

He is Orthodox, and teaches at a conservative Christian college (Hillsdale). So if he uses it, I myself wouldn’t worry too much about the personal beliefs of the translator.

But that is something you need to prayerfully consider. And if your consience has doubts about it, just use another translation!

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The Art of Bible Translation

  • For a transcribed and audio interview by Stephanie Bastek with Robert Alter, and more, go to The Ten Commandments of Bible Translation](The Ten Commandments of Bible Translation - The American Scholar)
  • What “screams” out to me is that Alter is significantly mindful of the auditory aspect of the Old Testament, which makes sense to me: after all (I think), the Old Testament was first intended to be shared with a hearing audience and written to be read aloud. I’m intrigued and amused, but not impressed so much: American Sign Language was my first language, spoken English my second.
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I haven’t looked at it, just heard of it and read some reviews that weren’t all that different from what have been posted here. Just two comments:

  • I’m generally not impressed by translations done solo, and that includes my personal translation of the entire New Testament corpus. Of course I’m not terribly impressed by translations at all because they inherently lose nuance and meaning (even the so-called Amplified Version, which does a weak job of deciding what to “amplify”) plus there is no way to translate without picking up excess meaning that is not in the original.
  • I look with skepticism at the work of any scholar who approaches a collection of texts such as the Old Testament has with the attitude that it’s just " a haphazard collection of texts" that have no coherent theme; religious writings especially generally have coherent themes throughout if for no other reason than that the writers believed they were writing within a coherent tradition. The coherence may not be evident to us, but it dismisses authorial intent to assume it isn’t there at all.
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This one is devastating! It had me thinking that my first Hebrew professor would have flunked Alter’s work for its inconsistency.

I didn’t read the first one because I’m tired of having to sign up at sites to read one article and probably never go there again.

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